Snowbound - Harlequin.com
Snowbound - Harlequin.com Snowbound - Harlequin.com
22 SNOWBOUND it with spilled coffee could be called an accident. And he should have taken the damn thing to town to be worked on, but hadn’t felt any urgency. Stupid, when a guest could have an emergency at any time. “Well, we’ll try again anyway. Kids, anyone who brought a phone. If you reach someone, tell them to start a phone tree.” Six out of the eight kids pulled tiny flip phones out of a pocket or bag. John suddenly felt old. When he was sixteen, nobody’d had a phone. Or wanted one. The teacher was the only one who got lucky, although he gathered the reception wasn’t good. The kids all put theirs away, shaking their heads. She kept raising her voice. “Yes, Thunder Mountain. You’ll call the parents?” Pause. “It’s snowing there, too?” That caused a stir. “Wow.” “Cool.” “We don’t get snow that much. I wish I was home.” “We have more here.” “Snowball fight!” another boy said. This one’s face caused a shift in John’s chest. He looked too much like the teenage boys hanging around on dusty streets in Baghdad. He might be Hawaiian or Polynesian. Something just a little exotic, skin brown and eyes dark and tilted. “Yeah!” The third boy, short and stocky with spiky blond hair. Sweatpants from the lost and found bagged on him. “I will so take you down.” Girls giggled. Like a litter of puppies driven by instincts they didn’t understand, the boys began shoving and wrestling.
JANICE KAY JOHNSON 23 Dark heads, laughter. A group of boys much like this, clowning around. A mud-brick wall. Rusty dust puffing under their feet, a couple of dirty soccer balls lying forgotten. With a physical wrench, John pulled himself from the past. He tolerated guests at the lodge. Teenage boys, he avoided. Their very presence brought back things he couldn’t let himself remember. How was he going to endure this group? The teacher—Fiona?—evidently sensed his longing. After telling the kids that the principal would call all their parents, she said to John, “I hope you won’t be stuck with us for long. Um… Do you have any idea when this storm is supposed to end?” “A couple of days, at least. And I’m at the bottom of the highway department’s list for plowing. Could be a week before they get here.” The longest week of his life. Just like that, he was propelled into another flashback. He was driving a truck, the sun scorching through the window and sweat dripping from his helmet, dust from the convoy ahead turning his and everyone else’s face to gray masks their mamas wouldn’t have recognized. Women walking along the side of the road in dark robes—how in hell did they stand the heat inside them? Kids giving the convoy wary, sidelong looks. Men staring with flat hostility. M-16 in his lap, John scanned the people, the side of the road, the rooftops of the sand-colored mud buildings for anything that looked wrong. As quickly, the vivid memory faded and he was
- Page 2 and 3: For 60 years, Harlequin has been pr
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- Page 6 and 7: ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author of more
- Page 8 and 9: 8 SNOWBOUND Only, they hadn’t. Th
- Page 10 and 11: 10 SNOWBOUND Fiona was momentarily
- Page 12 and 13: 12 SNOWBOUND bottles heated at odd
- Page 14 and 15: 14 SNOWBOUND Then he stood for a mi
- Page 16 and 17: 16 SNOWBOUND Voice pitched so only
- Page 18 and 19: 18 SNOWBOUND Well, she had no choic
- Page 20 and 21: 20 SNOWBOUND “I didn’t know tha
- Page 24 and 25: 24 SNOWBOUND back in the lodge, onl
- Page 26 and 27: 26 SNOWBOUND You want to share mine
- Page 28 and 29: 28 SNOWBOUND He thought of himself
- Page 30 and 31: 30 SNOWBOUND Tabitha, Erin and…th
- Page 32 and 33: 32 SNOWBOUND Her chin came up. “T
- Page 34 and 35: 34 SNOWBOUND and beneath the collar
- Page 36 and 37: 36 SNOWBOUND students! And here she
- Page 38 and 39: 38 SNOWBOUND She’d barely reached
- Page 40 and 41: 40 SNOWBOUND She ached as if she’
- Page 42 and 43: 42 SNOWBOUND didn’t remember, for
- Page 44 and 45: 44 SNOWBOUND ing a smile. “Amy be
- Page 46 and 47: CHAPTER THREE WILLOW AND ERIN came
- Page 48 and 49: 48 SNOWBOUND didn’t seem in any h
- Page 50 and 51: 50 SNOWBOUND figure it out. They se
- Page 52 and 53: 52 SNOWBOUND Fiona winced and hoped
- Page 54 and 55: 54 SNOWBOUND She laughed. “Hopper
- Page 56 and 57: 56 SNOWBOUND Her eyes widened. “O
- Page 58 and 59: 58 SNOWBOUND “I don’t need it.
- Page 60 and 61: 60 SNOWBOUND each other, all blurre
- Page 62 and 63: 62 SNOWBOUND She laughed with them.
- Page 64 and 65: 64 SNOWBOUND although neither of th
- Page 66 and 67: 66 SNOWBOUND “Gee, why don’t I
- Page 68 and 69: 68 SNOWBOUND As, she supposed, it w
- Page 70 and 71: 70 SNOWBOUND “Period starting?”
JANICE KAY JOHNSON<br />
23<br />
Dark heads, laughter. A group of boys much like<br />
this, clowning around. A mud-brick wall. Rusty dust<br />
puffing under their feet, a couple of dirty soccer balls<br />
lying forgotten.<br />
With a physical wrench, John pulled himself from<br />
the past. He tolerated guests at the lodge. Teenage boys,<br />
he avoided. Their very presence brought back things he<br />
couldn’t let himself remember. How was he going to<br />
endure this group?<br />
The teacher—Fiona?—evidently sensed his longing.<br />
After telling the kids that the principal would call all<br />
their parents, she said to John, “I hope you won’t be<br />
stuck with us for long. Um… Do you have any idea<br />
when this storm is supposed to end?”<br />
“A couple of days, at least. And I’m at the bottom of<br />
the highway department’s list for plowing. Could be a<br />
week before they get here.”<br />
The longest week of his life.<br />
Just like that, he was propelled into another flashback.<br />
He was driving a truck, the sun scorching through<br />
the window and sweat dripping from his helmet, dust<br />
from the convoy ahead turning his and everyone else’s<br />
face to gray masks their mamas wouldn’t have recognized.<br />
Women walking along the side of the road in<br />
dark robes—how in hell did they stand the heat inside<br />
them? Kids giving the convoy wary, sidelong looks.<br />
Men staring with flat hostility. M-16 in his lap, John<br />
scanned the people, the side of the road, the rooftops of<br />
the sand-colored mud buildings for anything that looked<br />
wrong.<br />
As quickly, the vivid memory faded and he was
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